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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26796241">Tomorrow Never Comes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBookBuff/pseuds/QueenBookBuff'>QueenBookBuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All Our Tomorrows [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>That '70s Show</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Heavy Drinking, Hurt, Regret, Revenge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:07:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26796241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBookBuff/pseuds/QueenBookBuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kelso gets what he deserves but can he live with it? A life he would have handed to Hyde is now his.</p><p> </p><p>*Heavy Drinking- If this is a trigger for you.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jackie Burkhart/Michael Kelso, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde, Steven Hyde/Michael Kelso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All Our Tomorrows [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tomorrow Never Comes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This could stand alone without reading She Belongs to Me but you might enjoy it more if you read that series, but I don't think it is necessary.</p><p>I hope people enjoy the after of She Belongs to Me. I have two more stories and then I am moving on to another universe. If not your cup of tea, I can't move on until this world leaves my head ;)</p><p>I've been up at Mayo Clinic for tests, so this has been a great comfort to write and your comments always make me feel like a million bucks.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He opens his eyes and takes stock, he’s still here, not drunk, not hungover, but he still wishes he was lost in the dark sea of how to forget. They made him crawl out, the few people who still cared what happened to him, after the whole fucking town got word of what he did.  He didn’t want to get out, he wanted to drown there in the amber liquid and never come back. He wasn’t pleasant to be around when reality dried him up, because burning hate and grief were like drums in his head. It was like someone was screaming inside and now he had nothing to stop it. </p><p> </p><p>He sighs... there wasn’t a damn minute of the day that he doesn’t want to dive right back down the neck of a bottle into an abyss of temporary peace. Drunk off his ass, he didn’t have to look at himself in the mirror and know that he largely did this to himself.</p><p> </p><p>Swimming in cheap bourbon, he didn’t have to think about her with him, her eyes going wild with passion. Comfortably buzzed, he can stop the vision of Steven fucking Hyde taking, possessing, making her his, and knowing that is what she wants, has always wanted and will want forever. At the very bottom of a bottle when it is empty and the memory serum is coursing through his veins he doesn’t have to think of her at all, he is entirely numb.</p><p> </p><p>He who never really cared or marked events by time, now can’t take a breath without recording everything based on the minute she walked out the door. He rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands and prays to a God who probably couldn’t give a damn that today it will be better. He has been living in a clear and precise hell and today is an important landmark in that torture. </p><p> </p><p>It has been….</p><p> </p><p> 262,800 minutes<em> (he had his dad do the math) </em> since Eric went all “Godfather” on him and whispered <em> “I Planned This” </em></p><p> </p><p> 4,380 hours since his crimes were prosecuted in front of a great deal of Point Place.</p><p> </p><p>182 days since Jackie kissed his lips and strode out of their rehearsal dinner to close the door on her and Hyde forever and disappeared. </p><p> </p><p>26 weeks since his world fell apart and the life he would have assigned to Hyde without blinking has been chained to him, like Atlas holding up the world for eternity </p><p> </p><p>All equal to a horrifying six months when he finally understood why Hyde had been killing himself over Jackie and gaining perfect clarity why he picked drinking to do it…….because it blurs it all.<br/><br/><br/></p><p>
  <em> Six fucking Months Since He </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Heard her voice </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Smelled her soft scent,  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Watched her bounce into a room </em>
</p><p>Half a year since he had laid in bed, refusing to open his eyes in hopes it had all been a nightmare and that tomorrow had arrived. That he would not have to wake up every morning and take stock of where he was at in his sorry ass life. </p><p> </p><p>He was vaguely proud of being able to add a few other details to his mental checklist if for no other reason than it broke up the stand still that was his new reality. </p><p> </p><p>3 months since he got pulled off the booze cruise by his brother and Donna</p><p> </p><p>2 months since he had a drink </p><p> </p><p>12 hours since he last had the desire to track them down and get Jackie back.</p><p> </p><p>10 minutes since he was happy because he was asleep</p><p> </p><p>The amount of time to get over what happened….. Never.</p><p> </p><p> Underneath his deep loathing for Hyde, who it is still easier for him to place blame on, is a deep well of pain. He can’t believe she just left, without even a goodbye to him in any way. He still can’t understand how she went from kissing his lips softly to leaving him at the altar. For a long time, he told himself that Hyde took her and that she was being held against her will. He drove for a solid two months hunting for them. He would get in the car and just drive for hours into towns, hoping for some sign, searching for a tiny fairy with raven hair, a pristine Camino, or a man built like a brick wall with shades to protect his eyes. </p><p> </p><p>He even watched Eric for a while because if Hyde was going to reach out it would be to Eric, but he could detect nothing. <em> That was what he couldn’t deal with…….the nothing. </em>   No answers, she simply disappeared before their wedding, into the night. In his clearer moments, he can accept she loves Hyde, but <b>HIS</b> Jackie would never hurt him by just leaving. He can’t reconcile that and that is what keeps him awake at night, it is easier to lie to himself and blame Hyde, than to realize HIS Jackie may have never been real.He wonders if there will ever be a time in his life, he will open his damn eyes and not have this conversation with himself. Will there ever be a time he won’t want Jackie?</p><p> </p><p>A soft sigh interrupts his morning mental health check. He turns and looks at Donna, she is laying on her stomach. Her skin is bare and her red hair is spread across her pale skin like a wild fire. He can’t help but trace his finger down her delicate skin. Donna has been, by his side through it all, a friend till the end, more than the two men who swore to be his friend for life. He adds another point on his list</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> 1 month since he has been with Donna but still with Jackie in his heart. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Donna’s not a fool, she knows. <em> SHE KNOWS </em> he still loves Jackie, hell he knows she still loves Eric. They cling together in comfort and safety, they only have each other left. He kisses her shoulder softly, and is thankful to have her. He loves Donna… of course he does, and she is staggering in bed, but he is still <em> IN </em>love with Jackie, he doesn't know if that will ever change. He swears she put him under a spell that he both wants to wake from but is terrified to live without. They don’t know it, but every man in her life has thought of Jackie at some point as something more than just a normal captivity woman.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> A Devil to Eric </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A Gypsy Queen to Hyde  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> An Enchantress to Him </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A Princess in the sternest of hearts, that is Red Forman </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He rolls out of bed and throws some clothes on, this is going to be a tough day he can tell. Some days she is only a whisper in his ear; he can manage those days. Other days, and he is confident today is going to be one of those days, she is right there next to him, it’s like she haunts him. He sees her out of the corner of his eye, he smells her, and when it is really bad he can feel her touch on his skin. There have been times he swears he hears her giggle, and he will whip around and look for her, only to verify a crowded room that has no Jackie in it.</p><p> </p><p>He walks to the kitchen, starts coffee and notices a pile of mail he missed yesterday. He flips through it and his blood goes stormy. There is a very pink envelope, with his name on it. </p><p>
  <em> Michael Kelso </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He would know that handwriting anywhere, he has letters, notes, napkins, cards stuffed in a box with that exact loopy, curved lettering. </p><p> </p><p>He pulls it to his nose, he swears it smells like her. He can imagine her spritzing it with her perfume. He knows she uses to do that, and even if this letter is free of her fragrance, his memory is placing it there. He feels a surge excitement pulse through him. He <em> KNEW </em>she would contact him. In his complete denial he thinks she might even be telling me to come get her. He pulls open the envelope and understands what is inside. He runs to the sink and pukes, he can’t believe it. </p><p> </p><p>As he pulls his head out the sink and washes the hell out of his mouth he confirms with himself, this is going to be an awful day. He looks back in the envelope and beholds the item he never wanted to see….. her rainbow necklace, stuffed into the envelope like a forgotten and unimportant yesterday. </p><p> </p><p>No note. Nothing. The nothing again. The enormous gray abyss of no answers, except this nothing, is an answer.  An answer he doesn’t want. An answer that is like a stab in the heart. An answer that proclaims <em>“Dead Man Walking.”</em></p><p> </p><p>This nothing is her goodbye, this is her fuck you, this is her I know the truth, but it’s only been six months so his mind still blames his old friend. He has a solid 24 months in his mental check list before, he can barely accept that all this is his fault. It will take 36 months and a beat down of his life before he figures out that he will never get near Jackie again without a towering Hyde in his way, and finally it will take 60 months for him to reconcile his choices and understand that sometimes absolution never comes. </p><p> </p><p>Those months and choices are nowhere in his imagination at this point, so when the smell of finished and fresh coffee wafts to him, he takes out a bottle from the top of the cupboard and adds a bracing shot of whiskey to his coffee and thinks to himself </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “2 months since I had a drink is now 0 days since I tried to drink her away.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He’s going to need the courage to get through this moment. He takes a drink, detects the fire, and he thinks to himself that he doesn't believe there is a power on earth strong enough to burn Jackie away, or a God who is benevolent enough to let tomorrow finally come.</p>
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